New Tank

[FallynLeigh]

 
Hello,
     So I just purchased a 35 gallon tank online and it should be to my house in the next 3-5 days.   I bought it to upgrade my mollies so I can actually let them breed a little.  
     My question is: can I just put my current mollies and frys (fries, IDK  

) into a bucket of sorts and transfer the water from their current tank (a 10 gallon) into the new one plus de-chlorinated and otherwise treated water from a britta filter?  
      It'd be like a large water change, I'd think.  Or should I cycle it?  I really don't want to leave the mollies in their 10 gallon for another 30 days with the growing fry while the tank cycles.  
     OH! Also, besides de-chlorinating the water, is there anything I should add to it?
 
Thank you!

 

[Sophie]

You have to cycle it, otherwise you end up doing a fish in cycle and will probably lose those fry.
Put the filter media from your old filter into the new one - that way you will ensure all the bacteria is transferred over. Are you keeping the gravel/substrate too? There's a little bacteria there.
After that you must test the water often to check for any spikes in Ammonia and/or Nitrite, you don't want to miss signs of a mini cycle if you accidentally lose some bacteria.

 

[FallynLeigh]

Awh alright.. I guess if it comes down to it I'd rather have the fry live.  How do I transfer the filter media?  And I'm keeping the gravel in the 10 gallon tank because I'm going to get a small fish or two or maybe a betta for it.  Approximately how long would the cycle take?
 
 
Every time I've set up a tank I've let it "cycle" for a week and then tested it and all the readings are perfect and then I put the fish in.  Would this be okay?

 

[Sophie]

No sorry sweet - have a read here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/

Will help explain why it's essential and with the filter media, you open up the old filter and take out the contents and put it into the new filters compartments - if you can fit them..

 

[Lillefishy]

Is the filter in the 10 gallon fully cycled?
If it is you can put the cycled media in the new filter & transfer the fish as the media can cope with the stock you already have.
The new filter I would imagine will be bigger so you can add some more media to it.
Don't add any new fish for a while & when you do, add them very slowly to allow the bacteria in the filter to catch up, & test the water very regularly in case of spikes.

 

[FallynLeigh]

Alright, I'll do that.  
Lillefishy- the 10 gallon is fully cycled (its like 5 years old).  So when I get the new tank I can put the "cycled media" in the new filter and then put my 5 adult mollies in?
 
 
Should I leave the fry in the 10 gallon until I'm 100% sure its safe?

 

[Lillefishy]

Yes, just put the old media in the new filter & add your fish, up to you whether you add the fry, if they're quite large I'd add them as well

 

[FallynLeigh]

Sophie- The article you linked to, I've always done that, only in a weeks time and when I test the water the readings are great and none of the fish have died.

 

[Sophie]

Sophie- The article you linked to, I've always done that, only in a weeks time and when I test the water the readings are great and none of the fish have died.

 
You can't possibly fully cycle a tank within a week.. Unless it's seeded with a lot of mature media from elsewhere? Even then..

 

[FallynLeigh]

 

Sophie- The article you linked to, I've always done that, only in a weeks time and when I test the water the readings are great and none of the fish have died.

 
You can't possibly fully cycle a tank within a week.. Unless it's seeded with a lot of mature media from elsewhere? Even then..
 

the schedule I've always followed is:
 
day one- set it up and add water, filter and heater are running
day two or three- check water, add plants
day three, four, and five- check water, tweak as necessary
day six or seven- add a fish or two
 
thats what I've always done and never had a fish kill, the nitrates and nitrites are great, and the tank is set.

 

 

[daizeUK]

Cycling without fish involves adding ammonia to the tank to simulate the waste products which kill fish.  Bacteria then feed on this ammonia and build up a nice big population ready to feed on the fish waste when  you add them.  That's the part you've been missing out, the bacteria will not grow without a source of ammonia.
 
If you want to keep both tank running simultaneously then I would do this:
Take a small amount of media (ceramics or sponge) from your current filter and add it to your new filter in the big tank.  You can add up to a third of the media from the old filter.  Then follow the instructions for fishless cycling which Sophie linked, including adding ammonia.  It should only take 2-3 weeks to fully cycle the big tank since you are seeding it with bacteria from your old tank.  Then you can move the mollies into the big tank and use the small tank for fry or a betta straight away and all the fish will be happy

 

[Sophie]

Yes your tank stats will read perfect as it's just tap water, it will change as soon as you add a source of Ammonia (the fish) to start the cycling process.

Without this.. The cycle hasn't even begun so it cannot be fully cycled at all.

 

[FallynLeigh]

I don't know.  It's always worked in the past.  I'm just kind of thinking of bringing the most of the mollies back to the LFS and when the fry grow up bring most of them to the LFS too.  I don't really want to because I've grown to like them, but ... I don't know.  I forgot how much trouble livebearers are.

 

[Meeresstille]

In your other thread you posted that you don't have anything to test for ammonia. You don't know then at what point your previous tanks started to cycle. You were very lucky that none of those fish had died during the cycling process.
 
In your other thread you mentioned the death of 2 mollies in this 10 gallon mature tank. I believe they died from either ammonia poisoning or high nitrite. Test strips are unreliable but it makes sense that the filter was not able to keep up with the ammonia the 5 mollies produced. You also stated that you have quite a large number of snails in that tank, or did I misunderstand? Snails add a lot to the bio-load, maybe you could give some to your LFS (unless they're pest snails), that would help out your filter and the bacteria as well.

 

[wrightt3]

I may be wrong but If you simply transfer all the media from the old filter to the new one then you shouldn't need to cycle the new tank as that media is already mature.